


Alternate YOUniverse

by Thejordanandhervices



Series: Fairy Tail Works [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Nalu - Freeform, Pillow Talk, and other stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-03-17 01:38:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3510353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thejordanandhervices/pseuds/Thejordanandhervices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>". . .just like Lucy, she saw me making a bad mistake and knew that I wasn’t about to be dissuaded, so she did the logical Lucy thing to do. She made it with me!" This is a compilation of all the cute, heartbreaking, and  ridiculous AUs I can find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Trouble with Tattoes

**Author's Note:**

> Kicking off with AU prompt 1: "last night was supposed to be a one night stand but we drunkenly got each other's names tattooed on each other's ass cheeks so now it's kind of hard to forget you" AU

I feel light, lighter than air. I feel as if one small breeze could blow me across the ocean. But the air in here is stifling and I can feel my makeup start to slide down my cheeks. Hot breath on the back of my neck makes hair stick to skin in hot clumps. Hands around my waist dig into my hips as the song speeds into a climax and hips against my ass as the room swells with the music as one. My head swims in the humid air and muscles sliding along my back ignites a heat in me rivaling the dim nightclub.  
I reach up and grab impulsively for the head hovering behind my own and pull it down so that I could speak in their ear. “Outside.” I manage before the next song breaks the muffled lull. Looking back, I catch my first glimpse of the man I had been dancing with for the last three songs. Gelled hair, limp with sweat hang in dark, violently dilated eyes. Pulsing light dances over him, making his hair seem purple, then blue, then pink.  
A slow, wicked smile spreads across his lips as what I mean takes root in his head. One extremely toned, bare arm reaches out and and encircles my own. Our sweat mingles in the crook of our elbows in a way that makes my head spin and my cheeks glow. Outside the night air hits me like a wall, but has little effect on the thick cloud over my thoughts.  
Tall and lean, he turns on me like a dime and I’m pinned against the wall. Lips and calloused hands hold me where I am until the mutual need for air dragged us apart. This goes on until I’m itching and irritated in a way I can’t articulate. Instead, I shove him off me and grab his hand which seems to ingulf mine as he get’s the message and follows me down the midnight street.  
Less than a block away from home a neon sign distracts me from my single-minded mission and I stop dead. Rock hard and hungry slams into me and I tumble forward off my spindly heels (something that I had been anticipating all night). Before I hit the ground, his arm is around me and I find myself staring at a small chalk drawing of an alien in the sidewalk, his eyes disfigured by stale gum.  
Hauled back onto my feet, I look back and smile. He wobbles a bit and smiles dolefully back. “Tattoo parlor?” He asks. “I think I’m interested in something new tonight.” I notice the large red tattoo on his upper arm and wonder what it is. Before I can decide, he’s got my hand and is now the one dragging me across the street and into warm air and the smell of ink.”

*** *** ***

Piercing white light shines through my eyelids, making me see red. I blink the blur from my gaze to find a starkly dyed pink head of hair sticking out from the sheets around my middle. A death-grip around my waist makes the alcohol turn sour in my stomach and I know that if he doesn’t let go soon, his hair won’t be pink for much longer.  
“Umm. . .” I say, shaking his shoulder softly at first, then with more and more urgency. Finally I realize there’s not a moment left and I do the only thing I can think of. I roll off the bed-boy, sheets, and all- and vomit into my bedside trashcan. The first few thoughts to float across my throbbing mind are that I’m grateful to be in my own home (despite the unnamed guest) and that I didn’t stain my white carpet with last night’s mai tai.  
The sudden jolt sent Mr. Damn Fine flying into a sitting position. “Eeeaaahhhh!” He screams, rolling over to reveal a large bandage covering the better half of his right butt cheek. Pulling away from the trashcan to see what had gotten my bed buddy so upset, I sit up and experience first-hand what he had been complaining about. In a blind panic to relieve the pain, I launche myself forward and hit the ground face-first. The pain of my headache taking over the one in my ass, I open my eyes to dick.  
King Salmon lounges in a position, leaving his right cheek in the air so as not to agitate the clearly injured skin, but also wonderfully displaying his scepter and the royal jewels. I scramble backwards, careful not to rest my chapped heiney on the ground, and grab a sheet, far too late to return to decorum. By the time I’m satisfied with my impromptu toga, Naked Boy is examining what lay under the bandage.  
Flames lick up his cheeks . . . and his cheeks, his entire body seeming to turn pink enough to match his hair in embarrassment. “Oh. My God.” He says slowly, looking me not quite in the eyes. Curiously, I crawl forward to inspect his ass cheek for myself (for what was probably the second time if our state of undress was any indication) only to see my own face reflecting back at me.  
Horror and dismay flood my system as I quickly abandon my sheet and rip off my own bandage to find (a quite stunning watercolor rendition, actually) of the equally horrified man crouching in front of me.  
“Well,” I say. “So what’s your name?”  
*** *** ***  
Natsu gingerly get’s dressed and I walk him to the door. “So, It was a pleasure.” I say, looking at his hair rather than in the eyes. “We should do it. . . again. . . sometime. . .”  
OhmygodIdidn’t.  
Natsu doubles over in laughter and doesn’t resurface until I am thoroughly embarrassed and ready to crawl under a rock for the rest of my life. “Yeah, Lucy. Next time we can tattoo someone else onto our asses. We still have a free cheek, right?”  
Before I can properly respond (beyond the “em. . . uh. . .er. . .I”), he’s gone down the walk and disappeared in the crowd of passerby’s, which I find truly impressive considering the pastel shade of his hair.  
Turning away from the door, I’m already absorbed in potential laser removal costs and cinnamon, a scent that comes in fading waves from my skin. I don’t remember buying any perfume like it. . .  
A week passes and my friends still pester me about who I left with and why I wont sit down. “Did he get you that bad?” Levy says. The small woman’s eyes light up with what was probably a series of graphically disturbing images.  
I dig around in my purse for my keys and unlock the door. “I’ve told you, and Erza, AND Cana that nothing happened. We realized what we were doing about halfway home and went out separate ways, probably the better for it. I mean we really didn’t know each other and you never know what could have happened!”  
“Yeah, like you could’ve ended up with his face tattooed on you ass! How embarrassing would that have been, right?” Natsu says, getting up from the couch and sauntering over. He holds his hand out to a blushing Levy. “Hi, I’m Natsu. It’s nice to meet you. You must be Lucy’s friend.”  
“Levy.” She said, checking him out. “Well, Luce, I’ll text you later, okay? It seems like you have a prior engagement.”  
“No, I-.”  
“Thanks Levy! We’ll see you later!” Natsu smiles a heart-twinging smile and throws his arm around my shoulder it what looks like a familiar and practiced way.  
At the door Levy turned around and mouths at me, “Tell me everything!” With a quick mime of a phone to her ear, she’s gone and I’m alone with the man who’s on my ass. Surprise tuns to anger as I turn on him. “Never mind what THAT was all about! How did you get IN here?!”  
“Eh? He says, walking over to my bowl of fake fruit on the table and picking up an apple. “You left your window unlocked, it wasn’t hard.”  
Before I could tell him not to, he had a mouthful of wax and was spitting it all over the floor. “Gross! Who puts out food that isn’t food!” He looks at me with a disgusted glare as if to demand some sort of explanation.  
I ignore him and walk into the kitchen to fin the mini vacuum cleaner to get rid of the soggy wax all over my tile. “I just want to know what you’re doing in my house after everything that happened. I thought that ‘next time’ was pretty hypothetical.”  
He watches me vacuum with a sharp eye and feigned disinterest (only later did I realize my shirt had fallen low as I crouched). “Yeah, yeah. So did I. But, like. . . you’re face is on my ass, right? So every time I get out of the shower I see you. And every time I sit down I remember that it’s your face that’s the pain in my ass. Literally speaking, of course!” He said, throwing his hands up in surrender at my glare.  
“Anyway, it’s kind of hard to forget you and so I was thinking we should be friends! I mean, I’ve already seen all there is to see.”  
That was NOT helping his case. Getting up, I return the vacuum to it’s charger and walk back to him, anger leaking away like sand through fingers and his eager face. He seemed so innocent, but the slowly recovering memories from that night all begged to the contrary. “Look,” I said. “I’m fairly new here and I’m trying to keep my head above water. The other night. . . my new friends made me go out and I got really drunk and. . .” my voice fades away at the look on his face.  
“Sure!” I say, unable to stop myself. “Let’s be friends!”  
*** *** ***  
Soon, being with Natsu happened as often and as easily as breathing. We haven’t return to that night’s activities, but neither of us has forgotten it. Every once in a while I’ll catch him staring at my chest, his eyes glazed over as if thinking of another time. And though we didn’t have sex after that, it didn’t become strange like so many relationships that start out with sex do. He got me a job at a respectable company (the man has connections, despite his laid-back, pseudo-punk appearance) and without even realizing it, he had become my best friend.  
I would go to his house after work and cuddle with his Russian Blue, Happy and he would come over to my house at all hours and hop in my bed uninvited (“but Lucy! You’re bed is so much comfier than mine! If you want, I could- ouch!”)  
I smile at the memories as I check my hair in the mirror, that dork has gotten me into so much shit! Like the time he beat up those construction workers who were cat-calling me. Or the time he threw up on the train to the beach.  
I think about how my life would have been if I hadn’t gone out that night, foregoing the club to curl up in my bed with a good book and shudder. I love books, but out of alcohol and a couple REALLY bad decisions I got the best friend I’ve ever had.  
“Lu!” A familiar voice startles me out of my thoughts. “Are you ready?”  
“Yup!” I smile at the petite woman poking her head around the door. I turn back to the mirror and swipe a finger under each eye to make sure no makeup had escaped. Walking out, I find my friends and we head down the hall together and I watch them disappear through the doors one-by-one until I’m the only one left.  
Having already thrown caution to the wind, I take a page from my own book and throw tradition to the wind and throw open the doors, making my way to the end of the room alone. At the end I find my best friend and his cat facing me with a smile that I’ve grown desperately dependent on.  
“I believe the bride and groom would like to say their own vows?” The oddly angular priest prompts.  
After a speech that bared my soul in every way and left the whole group in tears, attention shifts to Natsu, who clears his throat. “I remember the night we met so clearly I can still smell the vanilla perfume you were wearing,” He begins, dark eyes focused on me in a rare moment of seriousness. My mind screams and I try to tell him with my eyes that there are better stories to tell than the first one. It would be easy to think that he just doesn’t get the message, but I catch the corners of his mouth twitch just slightly in amusement.  
“Lucy and I found each other on the dance floor of a night club and it only took three songs and five drinks to decide that we were meant to be together and that we needed to be together RIGHT THEN.”  
Natsu pauses for the laughter to die out before continuing. “I’m not sure whether it was the alcohol or from being drunk on her company that lead me to think getting her face tattooed on my ass was the best idea I ever had, but it happened and just like Lucy, she saw me making a bad mistake and knew that I wasn’t about to be dissuaded, so she did the logical Lucy thing to do. She made it with me! At first it seemed like I had finally hit rock bottom. Having lost my father when I was young I was forced to live a transient life, but it was Lucy who managed to both ground me, and give me wings. I will never be able to repay her for that. . . or the cost of the tattoo that night.”  
More laughter echoes through the hall before he finishes. “But I get to spend every day for the rest of my life trying to repay everything she’s given me, and I can’t imagine a more exciting adventure!”  
As Natsu has always done, he ignores the timing and makes his own. Grabbing me by the shoulders, he leans me back into a ridiculous french dip and kisses me in such a way that even Laxus turns pink. After pulling apart he squeezes the cheek with his face on it and whispers. “I’ll always be with you, Lucy.”  
*SMACK*


	2. Alternate YOUniverse_ Special Chapter_pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy finds herself staring up at the formidable school building with awe and. . . something else? Something's not been right with Natsu's world ever since Lucy came into it, his name on her tongue before he had even introduced himself. Why would Lucy see Erza, the Student Body President with a sword, or super-jock Elfman with an arm no seventeen-year-old should have? And why is Natsu's cat BLUE?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuses for the unexpected hiatus after my FIRST CHAPTER except a sudden lack of inhibition. I am a worthless blob. Please enjoy.

Something wasn’t right.  
Lucy could feel the air around her like the walls of a cage, confining and suffocating. She felt deja vu itching at her mind as people seemed to pass around her at a blinding speed, all headed towards a place she felt like she had seen a thousand times, though she knew she had never really set foot in.  
A large, vaguely ornate building faced her, opposing and at once comfortable in it’s familiarity. The well-endowed blonde was jolted out of her revere when someone collided with her, sending her crashing to the ground. Before she had the wherewithal to object to their gracelessness or apologize, the person was already on their feet and running for the large front doors.  
“You alright?” Came a familiar voice from behind her, though she had never met anyone of her own age until today.  
Vaguely, she looked up at the person now standing in front of her. He stared down at her with a question in his shockingly bright brows. As she tried to place his incredible pink hair, the air grew stale and he began to fidget.  
“Yo, you really musta hit your head there. Let’s get you to the infirmary.” He grabbed her by the wrist and slung her arm around his neck, chatting idly as he helped her first to her feet, and then towards the school. “You have to have to have the worst luck to hit your head on the first day of school. Be careful around Jet, he’s scared easily and runs REALLY fast. You just move her? I don’t remember seeing you around. Maybe . . . .”  
He kept talking, but she was thinking about how familiar the arm around her waist felt, but that couldn’t be.  
“Hey, are you listening? We’re here.”  
“Oh! Sorry Natsu. I guess I was a little out of it.”  
Shocked silence filled the air between them. She knew what he was about to ask, but she had no answer. As soon as the knowledge had come to her, it was gone, leaving her mildly nauseated and rather homesick (for what home, she wasn’t sure. She would rather die right here in the awkward silence than return to that prison).  
“How did you—!”  
“I don’t know.” She said, eyes as wide as his own. “Is that really your name?”  
“Uh, yeah. Natsu Dragneel, at your service.” He said with a slight mock bow. “Do you know me? I mean, I’m not so great at faces. . . or names, for that matter. . . ?”  
“Lucy.”  
“Lucy. Sorry, I don’t remember, but I think I’ve met you before.” Natsu scratched his head in frustration. “I don’t really remember your name, but your voice is just So familiar, and the way you smell. . . uh, wait, smell? Sorry, I don’t usually make it a habit to sniff people. . .”  
Before she could respond, he decided it was better if he left here there for the nurse to find. He had never made such a complete ass-hat out of himself. Or rather, he had never cared enough to notice if he did, but he couldn’t imagine not noticing THIS shitstorm.  
She stirred something strange in him; protectiveness, irritation, happiness, and . . . something else? It felt like he had known her forever, like she rivaled his own dead dad in his heart, which is ridiculous way to feel about someone he had barely spoken to.  
Anyway, he was desperately late for class, and old man Guildarts was never going to forgive him for skipping out on his lecture. . . again.  
**** ****  
From that awkward rom-com meeting, everything was different for Natsu. Everything felt off, like seeing Elfman in a jersey, casually holding a football and surrounded by girls was exceedingly odd. Watching Erza lecture the other students about running in the hall, and then chasing one of them down and sitting on them was, well, normal feeling, but out of context in a way. And the new girl, Lucy, the only person whose name had ever stuck with him from the very beginning. He couldn’t seem to stay away either, she was like a Natsu magnet.  
“Hey Lucy!” He called from across the cafeteria.  
She waved back brightly and motioned for him to come and sit. Already at the table were Levy, whom Lucy had become fast friends with, Gajeel, Erza (who had apparently returned from harassing freshmen), and, ugh, Gray.  
“Natsu, don’t eat that, I want it!” Lucy reprimanded, casually slapping his hand away from her lunchbox.”  
“Aw, but Lucy, you always make the best lunches!” He wined back, nursing his completely uninjured hand.  
A sweet giggling followed the act and both parties looked across the table to find Levy doubled over. “You guys sure get along well for people who’ve known each other for only a couple months!”  
“That’s because she’s my best friend! That’s what best friends do!” Natsu responded, flashing a mouthful of teeth.  
Lucy smiled without a word before changing the subject. “Well, YOU sure seem to get along with Gajeel pretty well.” She said with a wink.  
Between the two, there was more pink than on Natsu’s head.  
The day continued with smiles and laughs, but both Natsu and Lucy sensed it, the slight strain that wasn’t quite palpable between everyone on the school, and even the town. A strain within themselves.  
Things only got weirder as time went on. Lucy thought she saw physical lightening crackle around Laxus one day when he got angry at a lower classman. And she could have sworn there was something off about the head master Makarov. One moment he was a tiny old man, and the next he seemed to tower like a giant.  
But the biggest tip-off to her that something was wrong was during summer break at the beach. She was watching Natsu play a surprisingly intense game of volley ball with Gray when she noticed something about his arm. Like there was something missing. She was maybe watching too intently because Cana, a loud classmate dug her in the ribs with her elbow. “So you like Natsu, huh? I don’t blame you, he’s hot!” At Lucy’s odd expression, she quickly added, “but not my type! I like ‘em bigger.”  
“No, that’s not it,” Lucy managed to get out. “Cana, are you drunk?”  
“What! No. I may not be the perfect student, but I’m far from drinking on a school trip.”  
“Of course, I just thought. . .” I thought I could smell alcohol on you. A lot of it. And Natsu. . . shouldn’t there be something on his arm. . . . a tattoo?  
Lucy laughed at her own ridiculousness. Clearly the boy didn’t have a tattoo, and he shouldn’t, they were still in high school.  
But her suspicions didn’t leave her, and were only heightened by her talk with Natsu later that night. She had dragged him from the hotel lobby, where the rest of the class was waiting for dinner to be served. Things were too weird and she needed to talk with him. She didn’t know why it was Natsu, the loud, destructive delinquent who ate her lunch on a regular basis, but it was. She just knew that if anyone was going to understand, it would be him.  
But she couldn’t figure out how to say it, so they sat on the dark beach for what seemed like forever until he broke the silence that wasn’t quite awkward.  
“Hey Lucy? Didn’t you used to have something on your hand? A tattoo maybe?” He blurted without knowing what he was saying. Before he could get really into his back-pedaling, Lucy’s head shot up and she interrupted him.  
“I thought the same thing about your arm! Didn't you have some kind of bird. . . or animal?”  
“That’s what I thought yours was!”  
Lucy’s toes wiggled deeper in the sand at her feet in excitement and nervousness. She felt as if the very night sky was about to fall down to reveal wooden beams like some sort of set. But the stars twinkled on. There was scorpio! And there was leo, and. . . Aquarius. . . The name filled her with a sadness she didn’t quite understand. The odd melancholy helped her find the words she needed. “Do you ever feel like something is wrong? Like the homework and sports and tests are all just some elaborate illusion, like someone’s about to yell “Surprise! This isn’t actually your life!”?”  
The question didn’t really surprise Natsu, he could feel the uncomfortableness in her that he felt himself. “Only since you transferred in. Really though, now that I think about it, everything before that seems kind of like a blur. Being a kid, my parents. . . I don’t really remember. . . anything too well. . .” The revelation frightened him, it’s like his life didn’t really begin until he met Lucy, which sounded like the biggest cliché but there it was.  
“That’s exactly it!” Lucy exclaimed, falling back on to the soft sand outside their hotel. Everyone else was inside eating dinner, but she didn’t really feel hungry anymore. “Like there’s something I should be doing and this isn’t it; the people are right but the setting’s wrong. Like. . . like sometimes I see Erza holding a sword, but what Student Body President would do that?! And Sometimes i get cold around Gray, and I swear you’re breathing fire when your mad!”  
And that’s when it stopped and they looked at each other with wide eyes and it came back. Dragons, swords, magic.  
“Lucy!” He said, like he was seeing her with new eyes.  
“Natsu!” She said as if she were seeing an old friend after years, though hadn’t moved.  
Fairy Tail  
And then it all fell apart. The sand dropped out from under them and the stars disappeared from the night sky.


	3. Alternate YOUniverse_Special Chapter_pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of the previous chapter.

Every time they met, it seemed like Natsu and Lucy were able to remember each other faster than the time before. And every time, as soon as they saw each other for who they were, the ground beneath their feet would crumble and it would all start again. . . 

Lucy stared at her reflection, pale and half lidded in self-loathing. She eyed the tight corset forcing her chest closer to her neck, forcing her into shallow, strained breaths. Lucy scrunched up her face, trying desperately to loosen the severely tight bun her burnt gold locks had been strained into, but it was useless. What did that lady use, GLUE?

“Uuuuahhh! I can’t do this!” She screamed in a whisper, eyes darting wildly around for an escape, but there was none. She had tried to escape too many times for them to leave her even a window to throw herself out of. She was so close a couple of times her father had taken it upon himself to teach her a lesson, which had made Lucy even more desperate to escape before he managed to marry her off to someone exactly like him. She was not about to be domineered for the rest of her life. 

Once the stoic makeup artist had left her looking like the porcelain doll she knew she wasn’t, Lucy put her last escape plan into action. 

“AAAAAAHHHhhhhhh! Help, guards!” She screamed, collapsing onto her knees for effect, the gargantuan ivory satin skirt pooling around her, leaving her looking more like a cake-topper than a girl. 

Chocolate-colored eyes stared up at the guards who rushed to her aid in horror. “He went that way!” She said in pleading, pointing a shaking, silk-clad arm towards her closet. As they ran, she immediately followed, slamming the doors behind them and shoving a shoe through the handles. Hoping that would be enough, she fled to the door and down the hallway only to run head-on into someone and nearly cause them both to go tumbling down the stairs. Luckily for Lucy, the man she had run into was fairly nimble and managed to catch both of their balances. 

“Where’s the fire?!” He laughed, allowing her to pull hastily from his embrace. He knew immediately who she was. She was the woman he was told he would marry in a few hours, the ridiculous white gown was evidence enough. He doubted she knew who he was. 

“I don’t have time for this, Natsu. I have to get out of here before those guards manage to get out of the closet and find me.”

Shock rocked though the man’s frame at not only the use of his name (they had never met, and if she had known it was him, she probably wouldn’t have insinuated she planned to leave him at the altar), but the fact that she had been so casual about locking up several palace guards and escaping in crinoline and six-inch heels. 

A slow smile spread across his face, a familiar spark warming his chest. “Well then, Luigi, why don’t we run away?”

Halfway in her effort to barge past him with her hoop-skirt in the way, she stopped cold. “My name is Lucy, but you were incredibly close, who are you?” 

His smile grew. “I know who you are, and I think you know, too.”   
Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her had and yanked her behind him down the stairs. . . 

Pink hair hanging nearly to the floor, Natsu tipped the chair far enough on the back legs that his manager began to sweat, but dared not enrage the already pissed frontman. 

“Dammit!” He screamed, rocketing forward and out of the chair, “Where the hell is that frosty bastard?!”

“What did you say, Volcano Breath?!” Came his response immediately from the door of their room backstage. 

“Fuck you, Gray, do you know how late you are!”

“Shut it, hypocrite, I’m here now, so let’s go.”

Natsu glared after him before violently grabbing his custom red-lacquered guitar and stalking after him. 

In the crowd, Lucy was in the process of stuffing her ears with the several pair of earplugs she had brought. 

“Honestly, Lucy, we’re in the front row. What’ll they think if they see you wearing those?”

“Honestly, Levy,” Lucy said, parroting her friends words, “I don’t really care what they think. I’m not a fan. I love you, which is why I’m here and we both know you’re here because you have a thing for the drummer. I know the kind of music you listen to, and it wasn’t this before Gajeel joined the band.”

Her smaller, blue-haired friend puffed out her burning checks in protest, but didn’t have any actual words in her defense. Before they had anymore time to banter, the house lights finally went down, and the stage was inundated with smoke. “Thank god, how long were they going to make us wait?” Lucy mumbled to herself, stuffing the last bit of cotton in her ears she could reasonably fit before four well-built figures strolled onstage. 

Lucy was able to enjoy the music well enough from behind her protective barrier. Unfortunately, it wasn’t only the music she needed to be wary of. 

Natsu had become charged with adrenaline during the show, which only fueled his anger, which was being channeled into his guitar and his vocal chords as time wore on. Finally, it was the last song and he was teetering on some sort of emotional precipice, too far gone to notice the neck of his guitar was coated in sweat, and his strap was slowly slipping out of position. Finally, as the song rang into it’s last notes, he swung around, lifting his arms into a violent arc above his head, at which point he promptly lost his grip and watched it sail out of his vision. 

It was late by the time the concert came to it’s final song thanks to the late start, and Lucy was tired. She made an excuse to her friend, who was steadfastly staring at the back of the stage, and sidestepped many screaming people to get to the edge of the hall. She hadn’t taken out her earplugs, and was unable to hear the screams of warning. Even if she had, she likely wouldn’t have been able to distinguish them from every other scream in the place. Either way, the last thing she saw before blacking out was red. 

Natsu barreled off the stage and shoved his way though his fans, fending off the hands on his face, in his hair, and the occasional butt-groping in order to reach the alarmingly still figure under his guitar. 

“Lucy!” He screamed, sliding to his knees next to her, his heart somewhere around his tonsils. He gently lifted her from the ground, turning her over to see her face. The most beautiful pair of brown eyes blinked slowly up at him.

“Mavis, Natsu! A guitar?” Here head rocked back with concussion and realization. . . 

They met as college students, as pro fighters, a librarian, a CEO and office worker, as gangsters. They met as creatures of the night, as angels and demons. They met in the forest and in towns with buildings higher than the tallest trees. They met in the rain and in the driving snow, and every time they did they remembered one another. Each circumstance was improbable as the last, when the last one came. 

This time they knew each other, but still knew something was off. This still wasn’t their world, but only just. They had gone from lands of no magic, to lands with far more that was probable, and they were home, but it wasn’t they home they had known. There felt like no breaking it this time. 

There was so much alcohol in the guild that night that Lucy could barely see straight. She was aware enough to feel Natsu’s presence by her as she walked home where she was too drunk to take off her shoes, so a slghtly-less-drunk Natsu did that for her (albeit with a little fire to help him with the strings that just wouldn’t stay still!). Then she couldn’t get the zipper down on her dress, so he did that, too. Before they knew it, they were fulfilling their long-suppressed desired in a haze of sweat and booze. 

They remembered what they did, but the refreshments of the night before opened up windows before the doors were ready to be unlocked, so they pretended it didn’t happen. They pretended not to know why they were both naked when they woke up, or why they were each a little sore. 

It was just about two months to the day that Natsu found himself speaking words he had never even thought before. He told Lucy that she was weak, and that it was just too awkward to keep going. He told her that she needed to leave, and that he had found true happiness with Lisanna. Tears burned in his eyes as he spoke, trying desperately to cut off the words before they were spoken, but it was too late. 

Lucy stood for a moment in shock, hearing the words that she always feared, deep down that he would say. So she turned on her heels, when she would have stood her ground, and said nothing when she would have screamed. And he watched her go when he would have gone running after her, and ignored the change in her scent, when he would have known right away what was going on. And they parted. 

Jolted violently out of sleep, darkness still heavy outside her window, Lucy began to weep. She cried as if everything she had just seen were real, even as her reality sank in in the wake of consciousness. That’s when she heard the gasp next to her in the blackness of pre-dawn and felt warm, strong arms reach out for her almost reflexively. She crawled readily in them and let the tears stop on their own. 

“Did you have a nightmare?” Came the voice beside her. It was scratchy with disuse, but seemed alert. She would know that voice anywhere. 

She nodded without words, and buried her face in his warm chest. He tightened his grip around her, reflecting on his own nightmare, a nightmare of loss. “I did, too.” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Sorry about the formatting in the first two chapters, if that bugs you. I forgot that this site squishes things together like it does. 
> 
> NEXT TIME!  
> "I'm in my underpants in a laundromat waiting for my clothes to get washed and your clothes are in the machine next to mine and I notices that when you put them in they were all covered in blood" AU


	4. There Goes My life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know I was going to give you that laundromat AU that I promised, but it's turning out kind of long, so Instead I'm going to develop it a bit and publish it in three or four parts independently (please check that out on my page if you get the chance). As an apology, I give you an older one-shot of mine (one of the few I don't feel is shit) called There Goes My Life inspired by the song of the same name by Kenney Chesney. Please Enjoy!

"Ugn," Natsu moaned into his arms. He was sitting at the bar, guild life going on loudly behind him.

"Hey! Natsu, is your brain flame broiled? Yo, Charcoal Face!" An irritatingly familiar voice echoed painfully through Natsu's head.

"What do you want, Ice Princess?" He mumbled, unwilling to move.

"Bastard, what the hell happened to you and Lucy last night?"

"What are you talking about, Ice Dick?" Natsu growled, lugging his head up to face is long-time frenemy head-on.

Gray laughed sadistically, "So you don't remember?"

Natsu's brows drew together. "I don't remember much. Last night is one big blur. All I got it a bunch of weird images and. . .strawberries?" He said.

But there was something off about those strawberries, wherever they came into it. They were. . . salty?

"I woke up at home with my shirt on backwards." He continues, growing angry at the amused look on Gray's face. "What?!" He snapped.

"Look, I don't know what happened, but you and Lucy left after getting pretty massively hammered. I didn't catch where you two love birds were going," he winked, "but you looked pretty snuggly there."

"Lucy?" Natsu stated questioningly.

*** *** ***

Lucy woke up, shivering, her head pounding in time with the irritating birdsong outside her window. She patted her side to find her blanket without opening her sensitive eyes, only to find that it was nowhere to be found and that she was, in fact, very naked.

Eyes snapping open, she sat up quickly, immediately regretting having done so, her stomach threatening to revolt.

"Why am I naked?" She asked the room hoarsely.

The room had no answer.

Lucy looked about the room to find her missing blankets (as well as the previous day's clothing) strew haphazardly about the room. Frowning, she got up to find an ominous ache radiating from between her legs. "Ooh," She winced, tip-toeing to the bathroom to take a hot bath, no liking her lack of memory and growing suspicions.

By the time she was drying herself, she had accepted the fact that it happened, but she still had no idea who it happened with.

She breathed a heavy sigh, upset for a number of different reasons. It wasn't just that she had clearly lost her virginity last night, but also that she had no memories of it, or who, in fact, took it. "I suppose there's only one way to find out!"

*** *** ***

Lucy entered the guild a few short minutes later to find everyone in the usual states of fighting, drinking, and socializing. A quick scan found the rosy-locked boy she was looking for in a corner seat, brooding by himself. That's odd, Gray's even here and he's completely silent.

"Natsu!" She spoke, careful not to speak too loudly, as was her habit, as she (and she suspected many others were as well) was nursing a substantial headache. She saw the initial confusion, and then the brightening of his face as he recognized her slim figure weaving rather ungracefully through the various tussles.

"Lucy!" he responded, before a lost look filled his eyes. Strawberries, he thought, Lucy smells like strawberries and. . . and me?! He felt the panic set in and fought to keep his breath and temperature normal as conclusions clouded his vision.

Another frown drew the corners of her pouty lips downwards for the second time since she had awoken to a crazy mystery. "Natsu. . ." She called, trying to get his attention. She'd never known him to lose focus like this. He was rarely one to daydream (baring any food-related thoughts), favoring the excitement of the moment over anything he could cook up in his head. Natsu's life was, to be fair, more exciting than most.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted regretfully.

". . .Huh?" He asked, pulled slowly from his thoughts.

"Natsu, do you happen to remember what happened last night? I woke up to some pretty crucial memory gaps."

"What do you mean by 'crucial'?" he asked nervously. Oh shit oh shit oh shit.

"I mean. . ," She hesitated, not sure how much to tell or how to tell it. "I mean my house is kind of a disaster and I was wondering if you know who was there, so I can, ya know. . . hurt them. . ."

"Uuuhhh. . ." Natu didn't like the idea of lying to her, but if it was a disaster in the way he imagined, then he definitely didn't want to own up to it.

Fortunately or unfortunately for him, Mirajane walked up at that moment, smiling. "Morning Lucy, Natsu. So, everyone's saying how you two left together last night~! You guys looked pretty cute, touching each other, and Lucy! I didn't know you were one to have grabby hands!" The older girl giggled, ignorant to the fatally red faces before her.

"Uh. . .ah. . . oh. . ." Lucy stammered, looking back at Natsu.

"Anyway!" She exclaimed, startling the two. "Catcha later!" Mira did always have uncanny timing.

"Lucy." Natsu began seriously. "I-I don't remember anything myself, but from what I've heard. . . .and the way you described your house, and your scent, I th-."

"My scent?" Lucy interrupted, pulling a face.

"Uh, yeah." Natsu replied, fidgeting in his seat. "I have a pretty specific scent memory. It's the most powerful, intoxicating scent I have ever encountered, and I'm only remembering it. I know I'm not the most . . .aware guy in the guild, but I can't pretend to not understand that smell. As someone who's part dragon, I have slightly . . . animalistic tendencies. You've probably noticed a few."

Lucy nodded, a furious blush still dusting her cheeks. "So what you're saying is that it was you? You don't remember, but you remember smelling me?"

"Heh, I guess that's what I'm saying." Natsu mumbled, scratching the back of his head and looking away.

"Come with me." She said, causing him to whip around in shock. He thought she'd be furious at him, claiming he took advantage of her, though he was just as, if not more drunk than she was. However, the Stellar Spirit mage made no such accusations. She took him by the hand and walked out of the front doors, completely aware of the gawking faces of her friends as she did so.

As they walked the short path to her apartment, Natsu writhed under the tense aura between them. "I'm sorry!" He blurted, not quite sure where he was going, but he had the feeling it needed to be said. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop myself. I'm sorry I challenged Cana to a drinking contest. I'm sorry I'm so competitive and couldn't give up when I knew I'd lost. I'm sorry I took both of our first times and don't even remember what happened! I'm-I'm just sorry."

Lucy came to an abrupt halt in front of her front door. She felt tears spring to her eyes. "Natsu, it takes two to tango."

". . . Whaa?" He asked, confusion tugging at his sorrowful features.

"I mean that it wasn't your fault entirely. There were things I could have done, too! I could have said no, I could have refused those drinks! And by the looks of me, I didn't put up much of a fight. Hell! It's entirely possible that I started it! Remember what happened at the beach? I was all over you! Or so everyone says. Damn alcohol." She mumbled the last part, staring at her toes.

He gently took her by the chin and raised her gaze to meet his. "Hey, don't cry, Luce. We'll be fine." He slung a warm arm around her shoulders protectively as she wiped her face of tears and opened the door.

"Oh." Was all he could say as he took in the devastation. He looked down at her seemingly delicate body. Damn, we can really take a beating. She's gotta be pretty tough to have no visible bruises, though she was wearing more clothing than usual. He cataloged that bit of information away for the future.

"Natsu," The small golden mage at his side began, "where does this put us?"

He watched as she moved to clean up the demolished apartment, suspecting that she did so to not have to look him in the face. He thought about pretending not to know what she meant, but that would only make matters worse. He wasn't an ignorant little boy anymore. "I don't know, Luce. Where do you want this to put us?" Other than standing here, awkwardly in the middle of the mess we created. He added in his head. In truth, he knew exactly where this ought to put them, where he wanted it to put them. He'd had feelings for Lucy for some time, though he wasn't sure of them until this morning. Suffering alone with his hangover, he'd had ample time to think over the evening's events.

There had been a light bulb.

He knew, though, that no matter his feelings, he was never going to force her to be anything she didn't want to be with him, which is how they ended up in the strained silence, each not willing to say what the other was thinking. The busty blonde paused in her work to turn to him, eyes trained on the ground. He stood before her, a quizzical look masking his panicked thoughts. Please don't say we shouldn't be partners anymore. I could handle anything but that. Not being with you might just break me, Luce. Don't you know that?

"Natsu, I think. . . .I think I like you." She mumbled to the floor. If he hadn't been a dragon slayer, there would have been no way he could have heard her.

A slow smirk drew up the corners of his mouth, his eyes narrowing predatorily. All of this being lost on Lucy, who was still working up the nerve to look her silent best friend in the face; before she could, however, two muscular arms slid easily around her waist and hoisted her into the air. A small, strangled sound of surprise slipped its way past her lips and he chuckled. Natsu spun her around once before setting her back down. "I like you too, weirdo."

*** *** ***

Everyone was surprised when, a month later Natsu and Lucy were still going strong. Their relationship had taken most by surprise; not that they had gotten together, everyone expected that to happen eventually. No, it was the way their relationship grew that threw everyone for a loop.

Most thought that they would be explosive and loud; fighting and screaming and loving passionately, throwing public fights and making up with vigor. While all of those things happened, for the most part the two were mild and content; well, as much as they always were. They weren't overly affectionate, even in the beginning. No "honeymoon" stage, as it were.

It seemed that they acted the same as they ever had, though their relationship before they were together was much like a married couple. The only difference now seemed to be the occasional peck on the lips and lap-sitting.

It was a morning like any other that Natsu stormed in, expecting to see his quick-witted blonde sitting at the bar or chatting with her small bookish friend, but she was nowhere obvious to his hungry eyes.

Slumping noticeably, the young dragon slayer stalked to the bar, claiming Mira's attention. "Yo, Mira! You seen Lucy this morning?"

"Natsu miiiiiiisses her." Chimed his blue Exceed, who was circling his head irritatingly.

Mira laughed knowingly. "No, sorry Natsu. She hasn't been in this morning. You might have some luck checking her apartment, though."

"Aye!" The two said in unison before bolting out the door.

"Ugh," Lucy moaned, waving her way towards the bathroom. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck!"

She knelt before the toilet, holding her head in her hands with her eyes closed as waves of nausea rolled over her. This method only worked for so long before she was forced to submit to her revolting stomach.

Finally after what seemed like hours, with the sun just peaking over the horizon, Lucy laid down on her side. She couldn't even think about moving. Aargh! What did I eat?! She thought as she was slowly lulled into unconsciousness by the feeling of the cool tile on her face and the soft fuzzy rug beneath her.

"Luuushiii!" Natsu called from the sill of the open window. Not seeing her in plain sight, he ventured further into the room. Having searched the admittedly small space, he decided there was only one place left to look. Munching on her leftovers he called out to his fried. "Hey, Happy! I'm going to check the bathroom."

Happy peaked around the door of the open refrigerator, "If you're suuure. I'm not going to help you if Lucy decides to kill you."

"Stupid cat." Natsu grumbled, reminding himself of Lucy. Laughing, he burst through the bathroom door. His laughter dying in an instant, Natsu fell to his knees next to his closest ally, slumped and unconscious. "LUCY!" he yelled. "Happy! Go get Wendy. NOW!"

Happy was standing at the threshold, elephant tears forming in his large eyes. "Lushi. . ."

Natsu was cradling Lucy's head in his hands. He didn't look back at his crying kitty. "Please, Happy. Lucy needs help." He didn't need to say another word as a moment later he could hear the rush of wings flying through the window.

"Urg, Natsu. What's up with all the shouting?" Lucy mumbled against his chest, rubbing her eyes.

Natsu jolted, staring in relief at his groggy girlfriend. "Lucy!" He yelped, hugging her close.

"Nafu, waf er you foing?" Lucy struggle to ask around a mouthful of his shirt.

"What do you mean?! You were passed out on your bathroom floor! What was I supposed to think?" He asked her sharply.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't feeling too good. I guess I fell asleep." She responded sheepishly.

"Well, then don't!"

"Don't. . . .sleep?"

He knew he was being irrational, but there was nothing worse for Natsu than the sharp twist in his gut when Lucy was hurt or sick.

Sighing, he helped her sit up. "No. . . I was just worried."

"S'okay Natsu." She said, fondly stroking his cheek.

He was about to respond when she turned green and went back to heaving over the porcelain bowl.

Is this what she goes through when I get motion sickness? He couldn't help but wonder as he patted her back, trying to block the powerful smell of vomit. There were times he desperately wished he didn't have such a sensitive nose; this was one of those of times.

"Natsu, Lucy!" He heard a high, panicking voice resound from the other room.

"In here Wendy!" Natsu called back. "She's awake, but she's pretty sick."

Wendy stepped hesitantly into the semi-cramped space, assessing the damage. Seeing Lucy void of color; hair dull, eyes lacking their usual spark, Wendy frowned with concern tightening her shoulders. Taking action, she gently nudged Natsu back and sat next to her friend. "Lucy, I need you to lie down, so I can see what's wrong."

"Unkay," Lucy slurred, spitting the vestiges of sick out of her mouth and flopping on her back.

"Is she okay?" Natsu asked worriedly, leaning over the two.

Wendy's face screwed up in irritation. "I don't know yet, Natsu. I haven't done anything yet."

With that, she focused her vision on a point in space, her hands beginning to glow a brilliant white. She slowly hovered them over Lucy in wide sweeps. After a moment she narrowed her search; Lucy was throwing up, so Wendy figured she probably had some sort of stomach bug. Hovering over her torso, Wendy closed her eyes in attempt to find and eliminate the problem.

When she found it, she gasped, her eyes flying wide.

"Wendy! What's happened?" cried Charle, concern clouding her sharp eyes.

"Luuuushi," Whimpered Happy.

"Is Lucy alright?! What's wrong?!" Natsu spoke at the same time.

"No, everything's fine!" Wendy reassured them, waving her hands frantically. "Um, do you mind giving us a minute? I'd like to speak with Lucy alone if that's okay." Wendy added nervously.

Natsu was slow to leave, reluctance and worry etched into every line of his face.

Once the door was closed Lucy propped herself up on her elbows, giving Wendy a quizzical look. "What's wrong?" She asked simply, trying to hide the fear in her eyes.

"Oh! No, Lucy! You really are fine; I just thought you should know first and decide yourself where to go from there."

". . . What do you mean?"

"I mean you're going to be a momma, Lucy."

*** *** ***

Natsu sat down hard, no longer aware of the soft pink bed under him or any of his surroundings. He was barely aware of the foggy-eyed girl before him or her deliciously distinct scent that, now he was paying attention, he noticed had changed.

"Natsu, please! Say something. Say anything!" She choked out.

In an instant he was on his feet, battle-worn hands running violently through his soft pink hair. His sensitive ears picked up a nearly-inaudible whimper as he turned away, beginning a frantic pace across the room.

He couldn't see the dim room, softly illuminated by the setting sun. He couldn't see the shapely blonde cover her mouth with her hand as she watched him with an agonized expression.

All he could see was smoke. Panicked, choking smoke that he couldn't seem to breathe past. Fire he couldn't consume.

I'm too young for this. I'm only nineteen! How am I supposed to raise a kid when I can't even manage myself?! I-I can't, I'm not mature enough. I'm. . .Oh Mavis, I don't know what to do.

As if by instinct, he turned and drew the shaking mage into a hug. He led her tight to his chest as she cried, realizing that she was more afraid than he was.

There goes our life of adventure.

Guess we got some learnin' to do, huh Luce?

A few flabbergasted guild-mates, sleepless nights, and frantic years later found him smirking as a flash of pink rounded the corner, out of sight. He crept quietly after it, watching as the little mistake he thought he made jumped at the refrigerator door, trying to reach the handle to get a snack. Closing in, he struck, snatching her up into his arms. She squealed, flashing a pointy grin and big brown eyes.

He walked with an exaggerated bounce in his step, jostling her as she hung over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, giggling and squealing; Natsu smiled widely at the amused celestial spirit mage watching from the top of the stairs, waiting. Bedtime in the Dragneel household.

The little pinkette slowly toddled up the stairs. About halfway up she turned back to look at him crouched at the bottom, ready to spring if she were to fall. She gave him his own signature smile, waving the little stuffed dragon clutched in her pudgy hand, and his heart swelled.

I love you, baby. Goodnight.

"Ninnite Dadda!" She called, as if hearing his silent regard.

He watched with a smile in his eyes as she stumbled into her mother's waiting arms. There goes our little life of adventure.

*** *** ***

She hoisted the over-stuffed backpack onto her shoulders and smiled at the aging wizards before her, gratefully accepting their embraces. Enveloped in the overly-warm arms of her father, she laughed. "It's just a quest, dad!"

"No. It's your first quest, and your first quest representing Fairy Tail." He said, tapping the guild park on her shoulder. "Every move you make in this world as a powerful mage is important." When she wasn't looking, he slipped a few hundred jewels into her bag.

"I love you Nashi, be safe. Don't forget to take Capricorn." Her mother reminded, tugging playfully on her daughters rosy hair.

"I won't forget. I love you mom, dad."

After the door closed behind her, Lucy threw her arms around Natsu, clinging for dear life as tears ran down her cheeks.

There goes our adventure, Lucy. Look what we did. She's strong, Luce, don't worry. She's smart like you and strong like all of us. She's a daughter of Fairy Tail, of course she's strong! She'll be fine. There goes our everything.

Isn't it funny, Lucy? We wanted adventure and got a quest better than any that's been on the board. It's been tough, but there goes our life, off to defend the innocent,

He felt moisture slick his cheeks. "Goodbye baby."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, I had a thing for putting as much pseudo-Japanese in my fanfics as possible when I first started writing, so if you see one or two "gomen's or ano's" that I missed in the reediting process, I ask you to overlook it. As someone who now knows fluent Japanese, that weird mix kind of irritates me. Thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave any questions and/or comments and I'll do my best to address them next time!
> 
> Next time: "I'm in my underpants at a laundromat waiting for my clothes to get washed and your clothes are in the machine next to mine and I noticed that when you put your clothes in they were all covered in blood what the fuck" AU


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